Questions With... Matthew Usher

As a way to get to know each other better, and let the readers know more about the blog team, Amy and Matt interviewed each other with questions such as 'favourite film'?, 'favourite music'?... and 'favourite curry'?

A: "Could you tell us a bit about yourself?"

M: "Hi, I'm Matt, and I'm a second year media and film studies student at the University of Chester. I'm also part of the blog and photography team."

A: "Who is your favourite artist?"

M: "I don’t really think I have a favourite artist, like a favourite band or musician. I guess I’d have a top five, but not in any order. I guess I’d say King Crimson, probably Pink Floyd would be in there, Led Zeppelin… I’m going to have to think…"

A: "It’s really hard once people ask you what you listen to."

M: "Yeah. I’d probably put Genesis on there, so Genesis and… Yes. All British prog-rock bands of the seventies, so I listen to a wide range of stuff!"

A: "A variety of genres. Do you have any other artists?"

M: "Yeah, I listen to quite a wide range, like foreign music, Italian bands, like PFM [Premiata Forneria Marconi], they stand for something - in English it means something like ‘The Magnificent Marconi Bakery’, I think. Some German bands, like Triumvirat, they’re pretty good. Occasionally Zeuhl bands, which is a made-up language. I’m still getting in to some of that stuff, so quite a wide range, yeah."

A: "What are your favourite TV shows?"

M: "Probably Parks and Recreation, The Thick Of It, Stranger Things, Sneaky Pete on

Amazon Prime, that’s a really good TV show. The Walking Dead as well, I finished season 9 recently so that’s in my mind. The End Of The Fucking World on Netflix."

A: "That is a good show, I’d forgotten about that."

M: "Yeah, I’d probably just say them."

A: What are your favourite films?

M: "I think my absolute favourite film would be The Blues Brothers."

A: "That’s a good one."

M: "Yeah. But I like varied genres of films, so like westerns such as The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and Heaven’s Gate, comedies like Blazing Saddles and The Blues Brothers. Quite a wide range, like Stanley Kubrick films and Tarantino as well."

A: "What’s the worst film that you’ve ever watched?"

M: "We used to do this thing in sixth form where we’d purposefully watch bad films."

A: "It’s the greatest thing you can ever do! So fun."

M: "Instead of actually working, let’s watch a really bad film. I think probably the worst film was either Baby Geniuses 1 or 2. That was a chore, watching that. It was awful."

A: "What was it about?"

M: "It’s like kids… what it is, it’s really fucking stupid. Thinking about it makes me angry. So the concept is that babies are really intelligent, but we can’t understand them! There’s this baby who’s got an identical twin, they get swapped accidentally. So the one that was in prison is now free, so you see him sat on the middle of the motorway, and you see his head superimposed onto a dancer doing the Saturday Night Fever dance - it’s really awful."

A: "It sounds great!"

M: "If you like really bad films, then…"

A: "I need to watch it."

M: "Yeah, the first two, there’s loads. There’s about five of them, I think, like direct-to-DVD guff."

A: "Who’s the funniest comedian that you’ve recently been watching?"

M: "I think I’d say my favourite comedian is Lee Mack. I like his sitcom Not Going Out, his live stuff’s pretty funny as well. Always gets a laugh."

A: What’s your favourite curry?

M: "Probably just a korma."

A: "Ooh, good choice. It’s a staple, a classic."

M: "Yeah."

A: Do you remember the first time you heard Dark Side Of The Moon?

M: "Yes, I think so. I think it was about June 2014. I think I enjoyed it, because I bought the CD the next month. But it was about June. I remember on Spotify I saved the playlist in July.

That started me on the wide world of prog rock! I guess that’s where it all started."

A: "When was the last time you were drunk, and what were you drinking?"

M: "It was last Saturday, it was a friend’s birthday party, and I was drinking Kopparberg strawberry and lime all night. Miraculously I didn’t throw up! That’s pretty much all I drink, flavoured cider. That’s what I was on."

A: "What are you researching at the moment?"

M: "I’m doing this blog, we’re gathering interviews to go on our blog - this is one of them!"

A: "Yeah, it’s happening right now."

M: "We’re just collating stuff for the blog, I guess."

A: "Where do you stand on Brexit?"

M: "I’m not really… I don’t think I’m informed enough to make a proper decision, so… I guess if I would have voted I would have stayed in the EU. But without knowing more."

A: "Were you not old enough to vote?"

M: "I don’t think I was, I was like seventeen? I was wasn’t old enough. So no opinion."

A selection of Matt's progressive rock records

A: "What hobbies do you have?"

M: "I enjoy record collecting, going round record shops, looking through. Occasionally there’s a record fair, there’s a hall in Bristol. They have three floors and loads of sellers come in, and there’s just loads and loads of records."

A: "That’s cool."

M: "Yeah, so I guess that’s my hobby. Record collecting, and listening to music."

A: "What do you do to relax?"

M: "Listening to music, play records, or play games."

A: Any favourite games?

M: "My favourite game of all time is The Walking Dead: Season 1, it’s just fantastic. I’ve been playing Red Dead Redemption II a lot recently, because I got it for Christmas."

A: "I’ve heard it’s quite sad."

M: "It is, it is quite sad. I’d say that’s my second favourite game. And I also play The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon, stuff like that."

A: "What is the most expensive object that you have bought?"

M: "Probably my TV, or my amp. My amp was £150, that’s probably the most expensive thing I’ve bought. I haven’t bought a car or anything."

Some more of Matt's records

A: "What will happen to your record collection after you die?"

M: "I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to sell them, I guess I’d give them to someone, pass them down. It depends on how many I’ve got when I die. Contract stipulation in my will - don’t get rid of them. Don’t give them to a charity shop, or something."

A: "You could write it on the back of your will, like, “Do not”!"

M: "Yeah, get a good price for them."

A: "Get something out of them."

M: "Yeah."

You can follow Matt on Instagram here.

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